


dust yourself off

by LiveLaughLovex



Series: start all over again [3]
Category: Scandal (TV)
Genre: AU Post 3x02, AU season 3, F/M, post 3x02
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-07-20
Packaged: 2019-06-12 19:01:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15346473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiveLaughLovex/pseuds/LiveLaughLovex
Summary: Jake takes Olivia to lunch at his mother's, and they find out just a bit more about each other in the process.





	dust yourself off

Philippa Martin lived on the outskirts of Richmond, Virginia, just five miles down the road from her brother and his wife. It was the same home she’d occupied during her youth. After her parents moved to a smaller home in town, she’d bought the house without hesitation, eager to both escape Indiana and be nearer to her only son. She’d always loved her home state. It was the place she’d rushed back to after her youngest child committed suicide and her oldest enlisted in the Navy. It was the place where she’d hidden from her psychotic ex-husband until the restraining order was in place and the divorce was finalized. It was the place where she felt safest. It was the place that she called home. And, because of this, it was a place she was eager to share with the woman her son had fallen head over heels for. 

Olivia didn’t dislike challenges. She didn’t run from things that made her heart beat just a little faster in her chest. But meeting someone’s mother was vastly different from assisting a presidential campaign. If asked to come up with a proposal to present to Congress in under forty-eight hours, she could do so without flinching. When it came to agreeing on a date to meet her boyfriend’s mother, her confidence faltered so much that it became almost nonexistent. 

She knew it was ridiculous to be scared. Philippa was responsible for Jake, after all, and considering how often the man risked his life and reputation to protect Olivia’s, she’d obviously done something right when it came to raising him. Jake adored his mother, as did the rest of the Martin family. Even Abby – who had met Philippa only once during her failed marriage to Charles Putney – sang the woman’s praises. There was no reason for Olivia to fear this first meeting. And yet, as Jake pulled in front of his mother’s home, fear was all she felt. 

Jake turned the key in the ignition, silencing the engine, and then turned towards her with an encouraging smile. “It’s just lunch,” he reminded gently, his eyes full of a kindness she was still adapting to. “She’s my mom, Liv. It’s not like she’s going to judge you.” 

“She’s your mother, Jake. You’re the only child she has left. She is most definitely going to judge me.” She fussed with the hem of the bright-colored dress she wore beneath a cream-colored coat. Both were pieces she’d purchased with Abby the week before. No matter how non-judgmental Jake believed his mother to be, there was no way she was wearing her typical clothing to meet the woman for the first time. “Do I look all right?” She glanced towards him just in time to see the slight smirk on his lips. “What?”

“I’ve just never seen you nervous,” he informed her, the smirk transforming into a fond smile as his eyes met hers. “It’s adorable.” 

“It’s not adorable. I am not adorable. I am a thirty-four-year-old woman terrified to meet my boyfriend’s mother. That is not adorable. It is pathetic.” She drew in a deep breath. “And you didn’t answer the question about the dress. Do I look all right?”

“Liv, you look perfect,” he assured her, reaching for her hand and stroking his thumb over her fingers. “And you have no reason to worry, all right? My mom is going to adore you, because I adore you. That’s all she needs to know. That’s all that matters to her.” He lifted their linked fingers to his lips and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “You’re going to be fine, all right?” he murmured against her skin. 

“Okay,” she responded, her voice as soft as his. “If I start to have a panic attack, though, you do have a plan to get us out of there, right?”

“Of course I do,” Jake said, looking vaguely insulted it was a question she felt the need to ask. “I’ve got your back, babe.” 

Olivia nodded at his words. “Okay,” she said quietly. “I’m ready.” 

Jake returned her nod, then climbed from the vehicle. He circled around the SUV to help her from her seat, holding tightly to her hand so that she didn’t stumble in the pumps she’d insisted upon wearing. Just as she turned back for the matching purse she’d brought along, Olivia heard the front door close. The sound of heels clicking against the front porch soon followed. 

Jake’s mother was exactly what she’d expected her to be. She was beautiful, tall and elegant with perfect honey-brown curls and glistening blue eyes. She was nearly sixty-five years old, but she could pass for twenty years younger. While her son didn’t have any of her more prominent features, it was clear from the first moment that Olivia saw the woman where her boyfriend had gotten his smile from. Despite her initial fears, she knew as soon as that smile was turned on her that there was absolutely no way she would be walking out of the lunch she was about to have without feeling about Philippa Martin the same way her son did. 

“You must be Olivia,” Philippa greeted, extending her hand with a smile. “I’m Pippa. Jake’s told me a lot about you. He’s told everyone a lot about you,” she added, flashing her son a teasing look when he simply rolled his eyes. “He’s really proud of you, you know.”

Olivia turned towards her suddenly embarrassed boyfriend with a fond smile. “I’m really proud of him, too,” she replied honestly, redirecting her attention towards Philippa after a moment. “I’m sorry it took us so long to stop by. Work’s been crazy recently,” she apologized genuinely. They’d been making plans to dine together for weeks. 

“Oh, believe me, there’s no reason to apologize. I remember all too well the constant struggles caused by political life. There’s a reason I retired to a house so far from civilization,” Philippa joked lightly. “And Jake’s been telling me about your workload whenever we talk. From what he tells me, you’re doing important work at that firm of yours, the kind of work everyone in Washington should dedicate themselves to. You’re making a difference.” 

Olivia smiled slightly. “I’m just doing my job,” she assured.

“Sometimes that’s all it takes,” Philippa responded, her smile kind. She turned away for a moment, gesturing towards the door. “Please, come in. I’ve made Jake’s favorite of my recipes, and I’m eager to find out if he likes it as much at forty-two as he did at four.” 

“If it’s your spaghetti, I guarantee you I will,” Jake said, finally speaking up. His hand was still in Olivia’s, his thumb rubbing soothing circles against her palm. She leaned slightly towards him, causing him to smile down at her. 

“It is my spaghetti,” Philippa told him with a proud smile, making her way up the stairs and trusting that they’d follow. They did. 

Philippa headed directly towards the kitchen, leaving Olivia and Jake to wait in the sitting room for a moment. Olivia soon found a method of entertainment. There were photographs everywhere, many of them from Jake’s childhood. 

“So,” she said teasingly, picking up one from his christening day. It featured only Jake and his mother. Jake was clad in a long, intricate christening gown, his dark hair covered by a matching bonnet. Philippa, dressed in a lilac-and-gray ensemble with a matching hat, beamed down at him proudly, looking refreshed and euphoric as she celebrated her firstborn’s big day. “You were a very chubby baby.” 

It was obvious from the expression on Jake’s face as he gazed down at the picture that the photographer had captured a rare happy moment in his childhood, and Olivia regretted bringing it up almost immediately. When his eyes met hers, however, he was smiling slightly. “I was nine pounds,” he protested jokingly. “That’s not all that big. Not in my family, at least.” 

“Well, that information’s terrifying. Thank you for sharing it,” Olivia replied with a delicate shudder, placing the photograph back on its shelf.

“Why is that terrifying? How much did you weigh?” Jake asked laughingly. 

Olivia hesitated for a moment. “I think my mother said once that it was just over five pounds. I know I was the smallest baby in the nursery the day I was born.” She smirked slightly. “I was little enough that they had to wait until I was two months old to christen me. I could barely be seen in the family christening gown even then.”

“Your parents were Catholic?” Jake asked disbelievingly. 

“No, but my grandmother was. My father still spoke to her occasionally when I was little. He and my mother basically christened me into the Church to avoid her wrath.” Olivia shrugged slightly. “Not the best reason, I suppose, but not the worst, either.” 

“Did you get baptized, too?” Jake asked curiously. Faith wasn’t something they spoke about often, but it was something he obviously took very seriously. 

“Yes. Into the Swiss Reformed Church, though, not the Catholic Church. I had a friend at Le Rosey who was extremely religious, and she showed me the light, so to speak. These days, though, I’m more nondenominational than anything else. Swiss Reformed churches are pretty hard to come by stateside.” She smiled slightly when Jake nodded his understanding. “Based on these photographs, I’m going to take a wild guess and say that you are a Catholic boy.” 

“Yeah. I was baptized exactly fifteen years after that photograph was taken, actually,” he informed her. “I don’t make it to church as much as I’d like, but I still very much believe the teachings. I have to in my line of work, you know? If not, I’d lose all semblance of hope.” 

“Yeah,” Olivia replied softly. “Is this Emily?” she asked quietly, gesturing to a young girl in the photograph she’d picked up. The words written in the corner told her it had been taken on Jake’s seventeenth birthday. Emily would’ve been just shy of fifteen. Looking at her face, Olivia was once again amazed by how young she’d been. She’d been a kid, nothing more than a baby, when she made the call to end her life. Olivia was slightly relieved Jake wasn’t open to discussing why he hated his father for causing the girl’s death. She was sure the reasons would be almost impossibly difficult to hear. 

“Yeah,” Jake replied softly, taking the photograph from her hands. “Yeah, it is.”

“She looks like your mom,” she told him. “You both do.” 

Jake smiled slightly. “It’s funny. I took after the Martin side of the family, but Em took exclusively after Mom. When my grandmother came to meet her for the first time, she genuinely asked if Mom had someone managed to give birth to herself. I think Mom was just thankful neither of us came out looking like my father. That would’ve been hard on her. Would’ve been hard on everyone, but especially hard on her.” 

Olivia nodded her understanding of his words. “You all seem very close,” she commented, picking up another photograph from the shelf. She wondered if the lack of photographs of Jake’s father in the home was purposeful, or if the man had simply been so disinterested in being a decent husband and father that he hadn’t even bothered to make an appearance. “This is Emily’s christening?” When he nodded, she looked closer. “You two were close in age, weren’t you?” 

“I was born in April 1970, she was born in June 1972,” Jake informed her. “Mom whisked us both out of Indiana as soon as possible, got us christened at the church where every other baby in my family has been christened. My father wasn’t a religious man, so she had to sneak away to do it. But she made sure we had happy memories. Our happiest memories were here, in this house.” 

“Jake,” Olivia murmured quietly after he fell silent, causing him to glance towards her. 

“Yeah?”

“I’m really glad you brought me here,” she informed him, her voice and eyes still soft.

Jake smiled slightly at her words, lifting a hand and brushing his fingers against her cheek. “So am I,” he murmured back. 

The moment was broken when Philippa returned from the kitchen, a smile on her face. “I just finished everything up, if you two are ready to eat,” she invited, guiding them towards the kitchen when they both nodded. Jake held Olivia’s hand in his until he couldn’t do so any longer. When he finally dropped it, it was to pull out her chair and help her into it. He pushed the chair closer to the table once she was situated, then took the seat beside her. 

They quickly said a prayer over the food before digging in, chatting about their days as they passed dishes back and forth. Philippa quickly grew interested in a case Olivia and her team were working on. Unlike her son, politics were still dear to her heart. It was the attention associated with them that she loathed. 

“You worked on Fitz’s campaign, too, didn’t you?” Philippa said after Olivia’s initial story was completed. “I remember Naomi mentioning you before my son did.”

“I did, yeah, for the last stretch of it,” Olivia confirmed. “I was brought in during the primaries.” 

“I suppose some things are just meant to be, then. You know the same people, and yet you found each other on your own. That’s the best example of divine intervention I’ve seen lately,” Philippa said with a fond smile. She speared a cucumber as she waited for their response. 

“I guess it is,” Olivia said, darting a smiling glance towards the man seated next to her. He simply winked at her. 

After dinner, they stuck around to help clean up. Olivia and Jake cleared the table, but Philippa waved them both away when they offered to load the dishwasher. “Nonsense. There’s no need for that. It relaxes me.”

“Ma, has anyone ever told you how strange you are?” Jake said with a shake of her head. 

“Yes, you. Repeatedly. Every time you see me, in fact,” Philippa responded dryly. She dried her hands with a nearby towel and then reached for her son. “I know the two of you have things to get back to, so I won’t keep you,” she said, pressing a kiss to his cheek and then releasing him. She did the same with Olivia. “I hope to see you again soon, Olivia,” she said with a genuine smile.

“I hope the same,” Olivia replied truthfully. It surprised her as much as it surprised everyone else that she meant what she was saying. 

They said their farewells, then headed for the door. Jake opened it and stepped aside, allowing her to step outdoors first, then followed her towards their waiting vehicle. “So,” he said as he opened the door and helped her inside. “Was it as bad as you thought it would be?”

“No,” Olivia said without hesitation. “No, it was fun.”

Jake nodded and leaned slightly against her open car door. “You’d be open to doing it again, then?”

“Yes,” she said, again not pausing. “But maybe we should have a dozen or so meals with your mother before we bring in the rest of your family,” she tacked on after a moment. 

Jake chuckled lightly. “I’m fine with that.” He stood and moved away to close the door, then circled around to his side of the vehicle. “You ready?” he asked after sliding in and closing the door.

“Yeah,” Olivia said, glancing towards him with a fond smile as he put the car in Drive and began maneuvering the vehicle down the driveway. “Yeah, I am.”


End file.
